The 52-year-old from Coxheath was among a handful of Cape Breton athletes who competed at the storied event Monday, his seventh in a row, in three hours, 58 minutes and three seconds.

It wasn’t until he returned to the hotel lobby a block away from the finish line that the day took a serious turn.

“That’s when a lady said there was an explosion at the finish line. I called my kids because they’d been near the finish line watching me come in and we’d agreed to meet back at the hotel room,” he said of his 14-year-old son Daniel and 13-year-old daughter Alyssa. “I was hoping they were in the hotel room and luckily, they were.

“Where the second explosion was, it was across the street close to where they would have been watching for me. Had that gone off earlier, obviously, it wouldn’t have been a good situation.”

The hotel the van Nostrands were staying at is the same hotel where the governor and mayor addressed the media earlier in the day. Van Nostrand, who hopes to leave the city today, said the hotel is “full of police, military, bomb squad — it’s locked down all around us.”

It was the first Boston Marathon for a pair of other local runners.

Sydney’s Jerome Gerrior, 53, was on the subway a few minutes away from the scene after completing the race in 3:38:20. The cars didn’t move and everyone was ordered off. Gerrior’s mother, Sally Carson, decided to stay back at the hotel and watch the race on television when everything unfolded. She received a call from her son letting her know he was OK.

“I went upstairs and I looked and saw everyone on their cellphone,” he said. “They were saying ‘Oh my God, an explosion.’ I just got a taxi back to the hotel.”

Kim Scattolon, 45, of Glace Bay said she “feels blessed” that she was at her hotel room a block away when the explosions occurred.

“My time was 3:32, so by the time you go through, it takes some time to get your medal and your juice, so I was down there for about five more minutes and then I made my way toward the family waiting area because I was meeting someone there. We were there for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, but we didn’t hear the explosion in the room.”

Other known Cape Breton athletes who completed the race included Daniel McNeil (2:31:46), Terry Morris (2:58:57) and Lauchie McKinnon (3:13:20).

sports@cbpost.com

On Twitter: @cbpost_sports

Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday.

Recent comments

Glad Our People Are Ok!! Our Thoughts And Prayers Go Out Too All Of Boston.
We Are Thinking Of You All, And Your In Our Thoughts and Prayers. NOONE. deserves This, I hope they Got the ppl who done this. Just heard late last night an 8 yr old was killed. Not sure pray too god it's not true. Love sent from Cape Breton, NS, Canada..